Throughout the summer I will be writing monthly updates in June, July and August. In September I will return to writing my weekly updates.

FINANCIAL UPDATE

I want to update you on the fact Blooming Grove ISO is very sound financially. The due diligence of the current board and the boards of the past has provided the district with a very sound financial situation. I want to take a moment to explain to everyone what fund balance is. The fund balance is basically the district’s savings account. The state of Texas requires a district to maintain a minimum of 3 months of operating expenses in the fund balance at all times. Blooming Grove currently maintains a fund balance that equates to 4 months of operating expenses. Currently the fund balance is $2,194,634.00 and is expected to increase this coming year by at least $86,620 dollars to the projected fund balance of $2,281,254.00.

You have to remember also the school district operates over a $7 million dollar annual budget. It is the largest employer, operates the largest transportation service and operates the largest food service in your community.

The district general revenue is generated in the following manner:

22% of our revenue is generated from local revenue sources.

78% of our revenue is generated from state revenue sources.

The district receives funding also from the following:

The food service is self-funded by the state, federal and local revenue.

Federal money for certain programs that have very strict guidelines on how the money is to be used.

State funding which equates to 42% of our debt service payment on a bond that was passed several years ago.

Over the course of the last 5 years the following has contributed to an increase in revenue for the district:

The overall taxable value of the district has increased by $29,443,293.

State funding has increased over $500,000.

Increase in student population.

So in essence the district is financially sound and is in the process of addressing the needs of the district while at the same time maintaining a balanced budget. The district had an increase in state and local revenue this year of $458,451. The following bullets outline how the district utilized that increase in revenue.

Federal and State Program review conduct by the staff at the Education Service Center in Waco.

Complete upgrade of the technology network at the entire district.

Repainting of the all 3 gymnasiums and the high school cafeteria.

Repair of both high school gym floors.

Replacement of the gym floor in the elementary school.

Construction of the concession stand.

New lighting in the high school hallways.

Remodel of gym foyer and gym concession stand.

In order to continue to address the needs of the school district in the coming year we will continue using our increase in projected revenue for 2015-2016 to address the needs of the school district. The following projects are being considered as part of this coming school’s year’s budget:

In the past we have been budgeting $92,000 a year to purchase one school bus. In order to address the needs of our transportation fleet in a timely manner we have increased that budget by $23,602 for a total of $115,602 per year. By putting the buses on a 3 annual payments, we were able to acquire the following:

Two Activity buses. Two Route buses.

By addressing our transportation this way it brings our fleet up to date.

In order to maintain our transportation fleet we have put in place a maintenance schedule for all vehicles and that includes cleaning the outside and inside of the vehicles.

We will be replacing all the carpet in the high school.

We will be replacing the furniture for the high school cafeteria.

Continue to replace and upgrade the technology needs of the district.

We will continue to maintain an aggressive approach to the maintenance of our facilities.

All of these items will be addressed within a balanced budget without utilizing any of our fund balance and at the same time we will be adopting a budget with no tax rate increase.

DISTRICT OVERVIEW

The following activities have taken place and/or being implemented in 2015-2016 school year:

All professional staff is fully certified.

All major state programs (Gifted Talented, 504/Dyslexia, ESL/Bilingual and Response to Intervention program) have been reviewed and new plans have been and/or being written. Staff will receive training in August and the plans will be adopted and implemented within the district this coming school year.

Reorganization of District’s administration.

Increase accountability in reference to the district facilities and transportation with the implementation of new cleaning standards and also all maintenance and custodial staff now have a dress code with school uniforms.

Student drug testing implemented for 2015-2016, also a district wide Extracurricular Code of Conduct.

Updated Student Handbook and Student Code of Conduct.

The implementation of dual credit programs for incoming 8th graders to allow for the students in this program to not only graduate high school with a high school diploma, but also with an Associate’s Degree.

The implementation an Academic Plans for all three campus and campus overviews of academic and extracurricular programs.

The implementation of a new website.

The implementation of the district automated calling service for community and parent communication.

The implementation of two year Board Goals and a Standard Operating Procedure for the Board of Trustees.

Increased training for the Board of Trustees.

Implementation of New Employee Handbook to include a dress code.

Rewriting and updating all Campus and District Improvement plans.

Once the Website is reconstructed all district’s communication, plans, financial data, handbooks and data will be posted on the website.

Increase accountability standards for all administrative staff, by the adoption of new appraisal instruments.

Staff training to include Sexual harassment, bully prevention and social media.

RANDOM STUDENT DRUG AND ALCOHOL TESTING PROGRAM

In order to decrease negative peer pressure on students Blooming Grove has taken a progressive stand to require all students who park on campus or participate in extracurricular activities to be subject to random student drug and alcohol testing program. By the matter of law a school district can only test students in these categories because both parking on campus and extracurricular are privileges not rights of education. We are also going to increase our student training on drug awareness and also maintain the use of the district’s drug dog services.

Our main goal is lo at all-time maintain a safe environment for all of our students. The district’s policy regarding the program can be found on the front page of the website.

We want to promote our district as a school choice for parents within the county. As our school excels in all areas our community will continue to improve and our children will be well educated and safe at all times. I hope that if you do not understand changes that we implement at the school please give us the benefit of the doubt by asking us the reasons why and also remember that all times our goal is to provide the very best educational setting for all the children of Blooming Grove ISD.